See the list of Component IMCOs for Component IMCO contact information. Contact your Component IMCO to discuss approval and tracking requirements of your information collection.

Some information may be exempt from licensing with a report control symbol. See paragraph C4.4. of DoD 8910.1-M for a list of those information collections. The DoD Internal Information Collections Officer must approve all exemptions and all exemptions must have a Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) summary. Contact the DoD Internal Information Collections Officer to confirm your exemption by sending an email to dod.internal.collect@whs.mil.

The action officer responsible the information collection must complete a Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) summary and all sections of the DD Form 2936 except:

• 8. Coordination
• 9.g. POC/Respondent’s signature
• 13.c. Requesting Component Approving Official Signature
• 14. DoD Information Management Control Officer
• 15. For Use by DoD Internal Information Collections Officer Only

Download the Example DD Form 2936 Action Package.

Complete the CAPE summary on the CAPE website at https://www.cape.osd.mil/CostGuidance/.

Instructions for completing the CAPE summary are located to the right of the tool. The CAPE summary should include costs to the owner of the information collection as well as costs to the respondents. The CAPE summary should reflect estimated costs for one year of the information collection (e.g., if the information collection will be conducted once, then the CAPE summary will reflect a onetime cost; if the information collection will be conducted monthly, then the CAPE summary will reflect each collection over a twelve month period).

The cost reflected on the DD Form 2936 must match the cost on the CAPE summary.

The owner of the information collection may complete one CAPE summary but respondents have the opportunity to create their own CAPE summaries during coordination of the DD Form 2936.

All CAPE cost summaries must be completed before routing the DD Form 2936 package to the responding Components for coordination.

All DD Form 2936 action packages must include a CAPE methodology statement that provides a breakdown of the costs of the information collection. Below is an example of a CAPE methodology statement:

This survey will cost the Department of Defense $7,690.00 per year. The survey will be administered to Army, Navy, Air Force, the OUSD(P&R), and the OUSD(AT&L) four times each year. We will survey 10 individuals in each DoD Component and it will take each respondent approximately 30 minutes to complete the survey. The cost to the owning Component to develop and administer this survey is $100 each time the survey is administered. The initial contract cost to develop the survey is a onetime cost of $1000.

Special instructions for composing a justification statement (section 7 of the DD Form 2936): If the information collection is a survey, attach the package sent to the Defense Manpower and Data Center (DMDC) to include the justification statement. See step 3 for more information on surveys.

If the information collection is a collection of information from the public, attach the justification statement submitted with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Form 83-I. For more information on DoD-public information collections, visit the DoD Public Information Collections Website.

All justification statements should include:

• A detailed description of how the information will be used, by whom and the purpose. Does the information collection involve the use of technological collection techniques? Describe efforts made to reduce the burden and cost on the respondents.


• A list of risks or penalties associated with not having the information collection request approved.

Component or OSD Privacy Official: All information collection requests shall be coordinated with the owner's Component Privacy Official to ensure compliance with privacy policy. Coordination with the OSD Privacy Official is mandatory if the information collection is a survey. If coordination with the OSD Privacy Official is required, the survey will be forwarded automatically to the OSD Privacy Official for coordination after coordination with the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) is complete. Visit the Defense Privacy and Civil Liberties Office website for a list of Component Privacy points of contact.

Director, Defense Manpower and Data Center (DMDC): All surveys must be submitted to the Director, DMDC for review. Seeking DMDC review is the first step for any survey. DMDC reviews surveys through the online Data Request System (DRS).

Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) Manager: Information collections involving the gathering of information on human subjects must be coordinated with the HRPP Manager and must comply with HRPP policy. If coordination with the HRPP Manager is required, the information collection will be forwarded automatically to the HRPP Manager after coordination with the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) is complete.

Component Records Manager: All information collection requests must be coordinated with the owning Component's Records Management Official as required to ensure that the appropriate records disposition schedule has been identified in accordance with the respective Component's records disposition schedules. Visit the National Arrchives Federal Agencys Records Officers website for a list of Component Records Management Officials.

Component Chief Information Officer (CIO): All requests for collection of information via computer systems or in electronic format must be coordinated with the owner's Component CIO to ensure that the information will be appropriately safeguarded.

Component Forms Manager: Information collections involving the use of a form must be coordinated with the owner's Component Forms Manager to determine if the form should be controlled in accordance with DoD 7750.07-M. Visit the DoD Forms Management Officers website for for a list of Component Forms Managers.

Component Office of General Counsel: DoD Components must consult with their Office of General Counsel if planning to provide gifts or payments to Federal employees for participation in an information collection.

Adjudicate concerns from the coordination obtained during step 3. 

Have your Component’s approving official sign the DD Form 2936 (section 13 of the DD Form 2936). Section 13 of the DD Form 2936 must be signed at the Senior Executive Service (SES) level at a minimum. Then route the DD Form 2936, the CAPE summary, and the CAPE summary methodology statement to respondents for approval and signature in one of two ways:

(1) Routing the DD Form 2936 without a prescribing DoD issuance:

• A draft DD Form 2936 with estimated costs for all responding Components and the owner of the information collection must be submitted to each responding Component for coordination. Each responding Component must sign the DD Form 2936 and return the form to the owner of the information collection.
• Respondents' signatures on the DD Form 2936 must be at the Senior Executive Service (SES) level at a minimum.
• The coordination requirements outlined in step 3 must be completed before the DD Form 2936 is submitted to responding Components.
• Information collections prescribed by statute, law, Federal regulation, or Executive Order are not optional and may be approved without the concurrence of all respondents as long as the respondents are given the opportunity to coordinate.

(2) Routing the DD Form 2936 with its prescribing issuance:

• All information collections prescribed in a DoD issuance (to include those also prescribed by statute, law, Federal regulation, or Executive Order) must be coordinated with the issuance as one action in accordance with DoD Instruction 5025.01.
• A draft DD Form 2936 with estimated costs for all respondents and owner of the information collection must be posted to the DoD Directives Portal when the DoD issuance is posted to the Portal for coordination. The coordination requirements described in step 3 must be completed before the DD Form 2936 is posted to the DoD Directives Portal. The respondents’ signatures and your Component’s approving official’s signatures (sections 9 and 13) are not required on the DD Form 2936 if the DD Form 2936 is routed on the Directives Division Portal with its prescribing issuance.

Submit the DD Form 2936 approval package to your IMCO for approval and routing to the DoD Internal Information Collections Officer.

The DD Form 2936 approval package must include:

• The DD Form 2936. The DD Form 2936 must be signed at the SES level by the owning Component and each responding Component (unless routed with the prescribing issuance).
• All Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) summaries associated with the information collection and the methodology statement.
• Copies of coordination with the Component or OSD Privacy Official, the Component Records Management Official, the Component Chief Information Officer (CIO), the Director, Defense Manapower and Data Center (DMDC), the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) Manager, and the Component Forms Manager as applicable.
• A copy of or a detailed description of the proposed collection instrument.
• A copy of the prescribing document.
• The justification statement.

Reinstatement: The information collection was approved previously but the report control symbol (RCS) has expired. Submit a new DD Form 2936 approval package by following steps 1 – 5 outlined above.

Extension: There are no revisions and there is no change in the cost of the information collection. Extensions are granted for a maximum of two years. Do not complete sections 5.d., 5.e., 5.f., 5.g., 8, 9, and 10 of the DD Form 2936. Complete all other sections.

Justification statement for extension requests: Select “Explanation of Request for Extension” in section 7. Explain why an extension to the information collection is necessary instead of composing a new justification statement.

Revision: The report control symbol (RCS) has not expired and the owning Component wishes to make changes to the information collection. For minor changes, contact your Component Information Management Control Officer (IMCO). Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the DD Form 2936 are mandatory for revision requests. Complete the remaining sections as applicable.

Justification statement for revision requests: Select “Explanation of Revisions to Information Collection” in section 7. Include a detailed description of the instead of composing a new justification statement.

DoD internal information collections may be granted a temporary report control symbol (RCS) by the DoD Internal Information Collections Officer (IICO) without prior completion of the CAPE summaries and coordination.

Insufficient planning or administrative oversight does not warrant emergency approval.

The DoD IICO will determine if an information collection warrants emergency approval.

An expiration date of no more than 180 days from the approval date will be assigned to a DoD internal information collection approved under emergency procedures. All remaining documentation not required by the DoD Internal Information Collections Officer when emergency approval is granted must be completed and submitted to the DoD Internal Information Collections Officer prior to the expiration date of the temporary report control symbol.

Requests for emergency approval must be submitted to the DoD IICO through the DoD Component's IMCO and the DD Form 2936 must be signed by the OSD or DoD Component Head.

Emergency approval requests must meet one of the following criteria:

• The normal approval process will cause harm to the DoD, another Federal agency, or the public.
• An unanticipated event has occurred (such as a natural disaster) that requires the urgent processing and approval of a DoD internal information collection.
• The normal approval process is likely to cause a statutory or court-ordered deadline to be missed.